The Gift That Keeps On Giving

My classroom is my second home. I spend somewhere in the vicinity of 40+ hours a week there. I keep a hoodie, make-up and deodorant in the closet. I have personal pictures on display and have decorated to suit my tastes. My teacher chair is well broken-in and soft in all the right places. I have tried to make it a pleasurable place to spend my life. The icing on the homey-classroom cake was a gift from my parents three years ago. On a glorious day in August, my mom showed up at school with a shiny, new Keurig coffee maker. I laughed, I cried and generally embraced this fine device that dispenses the dark, bitter elixir that fuels my daily interactions with my students.

This honeymoon lasted for months, even years. Every day, I would greet my Keurig with deep affection and gratitude. I have treated it well and in turn, it has kept me knee deep in rich, aromatic, caffeinated goodness. But one day last week, the use of this blessed appliance led to a terrible event.

For about two months, I have collected the k-cups after they served their purpose of facilitating the passing of steaming hot water water over beautiful, ground coffee. You see, the generosity of the coffee does not stop after delivering a “cup of joe” to see me through my day. The leftover coffee can then be added to a garden to nourish delicate root systems to ensure bountiful crops. In short, after a day or two, I open the k-cups and empty them into a container to dry and later be added to our school’s raised bed gardens. This is where things went awry.

On that fateful day last week, I went to perk my first cup of the day when to my dismay, something SKITTERED out of the coffee grounds and darted across my floor. This resulted in an alarming rise in my heart rate followed by some screaming (by me), general dancing around (by me) and an eventual squashing of the vial offender and its removal (by my partially alarmed next door colleague.)

Now, I have tried not to blame my Keurig. How could such a delightful dispenser of dulce treats be at fault? But I can’t help but feel alienated from my favorite classroom addition. I hope it doesn’t hold it against me.